Enhancing the resolution of an image of a camera can be important for many different applications. For example, enhancing resolution of an image can find application in surveillance, military and defense, aerospace, traffic control, medical imaging, and commercial applications such as smart phones that do not have the luxury of large sensor size.
One approach of enhancing a resolution of an image is through software algorithms. For example, a common way to enhance a resolution is through super-resolution techniques depending on software post-processing algorithms. These software post-processing algorithms can be applicable to multi-framed or single-frame, where the effectiveness depends on the scene.
Another approach may be to use two sensors (bi-sensor super resolution); however, there is an increased cost associated with this method. The increased cost is not only due to the need of two sensors, but also due to needing two full cameras, which in turn, requires two lenses (large, bulky, expensive), two processors, two batteries, two separate output streams, etc. Additionally, a bi-sensor approach also requires ensuring identical optical paths for both sensors, which requires the use of a beamsplitter and a calibrated optical setup. This significantly increases complexity.